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Britain Moves to Prop up Country's Banks; Presidential Debate: McCain, Obama Trade Jabs; McCain's Math Problem: Needs to Win Over Independents

Aired October 08, 2008 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It is Wednesday, October 8th. And here are the headlines on CNN.
The Dow struggling this hour. Other world markets sinking in the quicksand of a global money crisis.

The Fed choreographs an emergency interest rate cut with other world banks. Will it thaw the deep credit freeze?

The economy gets a starring role in last night's presidential town hall. Will the debate change the ending of this election thriller?

Good morning everyone. I'm Tony Harris. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The Fed keeps unloading its financial big guns to fix a spiraling money crisis. Today another spectacular shot, an emergency interest rate cut. Will it jolt investors from their funk?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HARRIS: The government is bailing out banks. It's fed the financial system billions of dollars. Now a rate cut.

Why isn't Wall Street a happier place? Here is one trader's view just this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN VALDES, STOCK TRADER: People say, oh, it's not working, it's not working. But if you think what might have been if they didn't do this, I think they're acting correctly. I really do. I think in the long run, these cuts are going to work out, and the plan, the $700 billion, is going to work out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. Let's turn to London now, the world's second largest financial hub. Today, Britain moved to prop up the country's banks.

CNN's Charles Hodson, anchor of "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY," joins me.

Good to see you, Charles. And let me ask you, you really are talking about an unprecedented step taken here in really a coordinated way to attempt to steady world markets, aren't we?

CHARLES HODSON, ANCHOR, "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY": Yes, if you're talking about the interest rate cut, this is unusual, not totally unusual. And it actually points to the fact that central banks have been working together for some time, the Fed and the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England.

It's not unusual in difficult circumstances for them to move together. But I think the sheer breadth of the number of banks that are involved here, all the way as far as China, for example, just shows that this is at last the kind of coordinated -- global coordinated effort that markets have been looking for -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. Hey, Charles, is it true that some U.K. mortgage lenders are actually passing on this latest interest rate cut to the mortgage holders by trimming some variable rates?

HODSON: We certainly hope so.

HARRIS: Yes.

HODSON: Certainly there are a few people. And I'm actually one of the lucky ones. I have to admit to some interest on that.

I actually have a rate which is directly paid to the Bank of England rate. So if there's a half percentage point interest rate cut, I benefit immediately from my bank.

HARRIS: Got you.

HODSON: But most people are not in that condition.

The worry is that, despite this interest rate cut, we will not see those rates passed on, but mainly because the banks are in the middle of the credit crunch. They don't want to lend, they don't want to increase their exposure to their existing lenders either. So they're going to be quite loath to pass on the benefits of that cut -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Charles, what's left? What other options are available to central banks if this doesn't work?

HODSON: Well, I think more rate cuts is the simple answer, and more pumping of liquidity. But what we have seen now, of course, very interesting, is the move by the U.K. government to shore up the balance sheets of seven leading banks and mortgage lenders to the tune of $45 billion, with another $45 billion in reserve for those banks and any others who might be felt to be worthy cases.

Let's have a listen to what the U.S. chancellor of the Exchequer, the finance minister, Alistair Darling, had to say when announcing those measures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALISTAIR DARLING, BRITISH FINANCE MINISTER: I think it's pretty important, especially when you see right across the world now, there's so much uncertainty, much turbulence. I mean, look at what's happening with the share markets at the moment, that we and every other government in the world send out a clear message that we will stabilize their position, we'll help banks restructure so they can rebuild their strength, and also do everything it can, whatever it takes, to ensure that we get that stability and we try and steer our way through what is a pretty, pretty turbulent period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HODSON: Well, he can say that again, Tony. Back to you.

HARRIS: All right, Charles. Appreciate it. Thank you.

You know, the global financial crisis, our senior business correspondent, Ali Velshi, is leading the CNN money team in a frank -- underline it, exclamation point -- a frank discussion seen in about 20 minutes, at the half-hour, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The economy, issue #1 for you and the presidential candidates. And both are backing the move to cut interest rates.

In a statement, Barack Obama said, "I support the action of the Federal Reserve, but it is clear that more urgent and vigorous action is necessary to stem this crisis." He called for the Treasury Department to move quickly to buy troubled mortgages and for Congress to pass a middle class rescue plan.

John McCain issued a statement as well saying, "I applaud the move. It is imperative at this moment that government be responsive to the needs of Americans." McCain reiterated his call for a plan to use taxpayer money to help keep families in their homes.

The candidates back to campaigning today after debate night, round two. No knockout punches, but they traded jabs over the economy and foreign policy.

Dana Bash now, live from New York with the highlights.

And Dana, as someone who has spent so much of, well, your life recently following every move of this election cycle, what did you see last night? Any new ground broken?

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't think necessarily any new ground broken for those of us who listen to their stump speeches day in and day out. However, it was very, very clear what each of their agendas were.

For Barack Obama, it was, you know, kind of the easiest thing in the world politically to do right now, which is tie John McCain to George Bush, because look at our latest poll numbers. Twenty percent, only 20 percent of Americans, think that this country isn't going on the right track. That is the number one goal for Barack Obama and John McCain.

Wait a minute, look at this guy, Barack Obama. He isn't what he says he is. Listen to both of them last night in the debate trying to make those arguments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe this is a final verdict on the failed economic policies of the last eight years, strongly promoted by President Bush and supported by Senator McCain, that essentially said that we should strip away regulations, consumer protections, let the market run wild, and prosperity would rain down on all of us.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have a clear record of bipartisanship. The situation today cries out for bipartisanship. Senator Obama has never taken on his leaders of his party on a single issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, that is something that you are going to hear later today, Tony, on the campaign trail. John McCain is going to be with his running mate, Sarah Palin. Once again, they're going to hit two of the most important states, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Again, you're going to hear a lot of those arguments just like you heard last night, you know. But if you believe, you sort of dig into the polls that we took, the instant polls last night, those Independent voters that John McCain in particular needs to pull back from Barack Obama because they've been going his way, they didn't necessarily buy the argument that John McCain last night, but he's going to keep trying, I'm told from his aides, on the campaign trail today.

HARRIS: And Dana, appreciate that. Got a couple of more questions for you when we visit with you next hour right here in the NEWSROOM. Good to see you.

BASH: Thank you.

HARRIS: Our truth squad is actually going to tackle McCain's claim that Barack Obama has never taken on Democratic leaders. That's coming up a little later this hour.

John McCain trying to battle Barack Obama's gains in crucial swing states, but right now the numbers are not going McCain's way. Chief National Correspondent John King. Here's John with Wolf Blitzer on "AC 360" last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the numbers to be so lopsided in favor of Senator Obama, that means he's not only getting all the Democrats, he has to be getting, for those numbers, a sizable chunk of the Independents, and seemingly even some Republicans.

Now, why does that matter? Because out here, I'll go back to the place I spent some time this week. I was right out here. Ashland County, it's very tiny in the state of Ohio. Very tiny, a very conservative place. Look at this number. Look at this number.

George W. Bush won this county 65 percent four years ago, and that was not an aberration. Let's go back in time a little bit. Right here, in 2000, he won it with 65 percent.

It is a conservative White rural county. They've lost 4,000 manufacturing jobs in recent years.

I cannot tell you how many people I met here who said they voted for Bush, who are open to voting for Barack Obama, because they're worried about their jobs. Many of them saying in the past, they're registered Democrats locally, they vote Republican for president on issues like guns, on issues like abortions, but that the economy trumps those issues this year.

If that holds in a place like Ashland County -- it's a very small place, but look at all the red around it. If that holds in a place like that, guess what? The state of Ohio goes Democratic.

And if the state of Ohio goes Democratic, Wolf, let's come to the electoral map, game over. Here is where we are right now 264-174. You need 270 to win.

Again, 27 days left of full campaigning is a long time. John McCain has time to change things, but things are trending against him. And if this state right here, 20 electoral votes, George Bush won it twice, if that goes blue, that alone makes Barack Obama the next president of the United States.

And if Independents are breaking Obama's way, which they are right now, and he's holding the Democrats, guess what that does? That puts the state -- the most west you go, the more Independents you find. Barack Obama is in a close race right now in Colorado, leading in some polls. If that one goes blue, out here you have the combination of Latino voters, new voters and Independent voters.

That one has been very close in the past presidential elections. Republicans just holding it. If that one goes, you're at a point now where if we go back to where we started on the map, the gold states are the tossup.

John McCain right now has to run the board, Wolf. And even that would just get him to the presidency.

So, to turn this race around, he has to turn some of these blue states at least gold. And if he's getting numbers like that, Senator Obama is after a debate like this -- again, that means it's not just the Democrats saying he won debate. The Independents are the biggest battleground in this election right now because both candidates have locked up their bases.

And Obama is beginning to trend away with the Independents. McCain has to find an argument to stop it, or else more of these states -- and the state of Florida is another big state -- he has to hold them. And first, to stop the slide, he has to stop the slide among Independents, and he has to make progress on the economic argument in a big way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And back to the economy now for a moment.

So much confusion from Chicago to China. What should you do with your money? Our money team has the answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX CASTELLANOS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: I learned tonight that, you know, McCain wants to buy everyone a house and Obama wants to give everyone free health care, which I think is remarkable for a country that's broke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: They are a coveted group in the presidential race. We're talking about undecided voters in the crucial swing state of Ohio. In a post-debate poll, 54 percent of Independents said Barack Obama won last night's presidential face-off, along with 85 percent of Democrats.

What did our panel of Ohio undecideds think? Here is our Soledad O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The economy is the number one issue here in Ohio, just as it is across the nation.

(voice-over): Over the last eight years, the state has lost nearly 250,000 manufacturing jobs. And Ohio has the sixth highest unemployment rate in the nation. So it was no surprise that's what our panelists wanted to hear about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are they going to do to bring jobs for -- not only for the middles class, but also for the low class people?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was looking for information on the tax policies of both men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to hear more specifics about the economy proposals by the gentlemen. My concern was a lack of specifics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to know what they're going to be doing about Social Security and Medicaid and all that for us old people that are going to be coming up on it. You know they're saying, well, we're going to do this, we're going to do that, but it's just blowing smoke. O'BRIEN: Our 25 registered voters, six registered Independents, 10 Republicans and nine Democrats, all say they haven't made up their minds yet, and they are all watching the debate because they are persuadable.

Armed with perception analyzers, they measured second by second the high points and the low points of the debate.

OBAMA: We are mortgaging our children's future.

MCCAIN: I think you have to look at my record and you have to look at his. Then you have to look at our proposals for our economy.

O'BRIEN: The format, a town hall hosted by Tom Brokaw, who sometimes struggled to keep both men on time and sticking to the rules.

TOM BROKAW, DEBATE MODERATOR: Senator Obama, we have another question from the Internet.

OBAMA: Tom, can I respond to this briefly?

O'BRIEN: As usual, our panelists immediately dialed down for negativity.

MCCAIN: We don't have time for on-the-job training, my friend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they just need to deal with the issues rather than dig at each other, because we're getting nowhere with the way their doing this.

O'BRIEN (on camera): Pushed to make a decision, if you had to vote today, how would you go? Raise your hand if you would vote for Senator McCain.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.

Do I assume the rest of you for Obama? That would be 11 because -- so a slight advantage to Senator McCain.

(voice-over): But our undecideds have 27 days before they vote. Time both candidates will surely use to try to sway this critical group.

Soledad O'Brien, CNN, Columbus, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Bears and bulls gains and the losses. Our CNN money team has solutions to your money problems.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Boy, take a look at these pictures now from Portland, Oregon, of this home. You can't even really make out the home at this point, which slid down a hill, boy, some 100 feet. And maybe we'll get a better view of the house here, but you can see the slide there.

We understand no real reports of injuries at this point. But let's check that information.

Lieutenant Rich Pyler is on the phone with us. He's with the Portland, Oregon, Fire Department.

Lieutenant, thanks for your time this morning. What can you tell us about this picture that we're looking at now, and this home sliding down this hill some 100 feet?

LT. RICH PYLER, PORTLAND FIRE DEPT.: Yes, Tony, at 5:30 this morning, this house did slide from basically one street down toward a lower street. And as you can see from the picture, it ended up running into two houses here below the initial house that slid. The one house is significantly damaged, knocked off its foundation. The other house just has a bunch of debris through the back.

Fortunately...

HARRIS: Hey -- no, go ahead.

PYLER: Fortunately, it happened slow enough that the sound of the house starting to collapse, when it started creaking and cracking, it woke up not only the residents in the house, but also the residents in the home below the house. And everybody was able to get out prior to the house sliding.

HARRIS: It sounds like that land there is pretty unstable. Have you been getting a lot of rain recently?

PYLER: We have not. And that's kind of what surprised us a little bit with this house slide. We have not had a significant amount of rain recently.

HARRIS: Wow. I understand that there were neighbors nearby, as you describe it, hearing what was going on with that house, that were able to actually rescue a neighbor in that house.

PYLER: I haven't heard reports of an actual rescue at this time, but from early indication from the residents, everybody did hear what was going on and were able to get out.

HARRIS: How many other homes are impacted by this slide? What's your guess here?

PYLER: Right now just the three homes.

HARRIS: OK. And power, I understand, may be out to some of the homes in that media area?

PYLER: That's correct. The power line did go down with the house. So the homes in the immediate area are without power. Water has also been shut down due to some water leakage, and the natural gas lines have been shut down.

HARRIS: Wow. All right, Rich. Appreciate your time this morning.

Lieutenant Rich Pyler is with the Portland, Oregon, Fire Department.

And take a look at these pictures again of that home sliding some 100 feet down a hill. We'll keep an eye on this situation for you.

All right. We're going to get to Gerri Willis in just a moment. We want to give you a quick update on the markets.

As you can see, about two hours into the trading day now, the Dow is down 33 points. And that is off session lows at this point.

We started out at the gate in negative territory and rebounded nicely, up into triple-digit territory, but now we have seen some steeper declines. But we are off session lows. We will keep an eye on the markets for you throughout the day, right here in the NEWSROOM.

You have heard the howling but didn't run. Now you've been mauled by the bear. Dow stocks 33 percent off their record high. The key right now, we're told, is to keep your wits.

Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis is here to help us out on that.

And Gerri, what do you think it is that we can learn from the volatility of the markets, particularly recently?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, yes, keeping your wits, that's exactly what you want to do right now, Tony. Look, people have lost $2 trillion out of their 401(k)s. It's tough, I understand that. People are nervous out there. But let's look back at some other bear markets, get some context so we understand what's going on.

Look, since 1929, there have been about 16 bear markets, including the one we're in right now. And here is what a bear market is -- it's a major stock index trop of 20 percent or more in any one- year period. And here are some facts to let you know how this usually works.

Typically, a bear markets lasts about 15 months, the average decline is 33.5 percent. And, of course, so this stock market debacle we're in right now certainly qualifies. We're down 31 percent.

The question is, though, how do you know when we're getting out of the bear market? What are the signals? Well, the experts say it's when things seem the bleakest, when sentiment is the worst.

Some investors now saying that the bottom could be near. We're not calling it, but I know there's a lot of people out there who are starting to say we could be close.

HARRIS: Gerri, I'm sorry, I had one other question, I'm not going to be able to get to it because we've got a campaign event we need to run to. WILLIS: All right.

HARRIS: Thanks, Gerri.

Right now, Joe Biden at a rally at the University of South Florida. Let's have a listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... is truly one of my good friends.

And I want to tell you something. It's all his fault that I'm standing here. He beat up Barack Obama for so long, I think Barack finally said, OK, OK, OK, I'll pick Biden. So if I screw up, it's Bill's fault. I want to get that straight.

(APPLAUSE)

Ladies and Gentlemen, you know Barack wanted to be here today, but after what your Devil Rays did to the Chicago White Sox, he just couldn't do it. He just couldn't do it.

(APPLAUSE)

The man is hurting. The man is hurting right now. So that's the only reason he couldn't be here today. And of course, if your USF Bulls beat up on my Syracuse Orange men, I might not come back.

(APPLAUSE)

I'll tell you what, you've got too darn many good teams here in Florida. It's not right. It's not fair.

(APPLAUSE)

Last week I had a debate, at least I think it was a debate, with Governor Palin.

(APPLAUSE)

And last night Barack had his second debate with John McCain.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, I realize I'm slightly prejudice about our ticket, but if this was the best of five series, it would be over. We'd be done.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!

BIDEN: Well, folks, speaking of Obama -- again in the debate last night what was most notable to me was what you didn't hear, what you couldn't hear. On the middle class, John McCain's silence was deafening once again. You didn't hear John mention the words middle class one single time, again, after the second debate. More importantly, the questions from the people in that town hall last night, I believe, personally believe, reflected what a majority of the American people are looking for, a steady hand, leadership, an optimist, not an angry man lurching from one position to another.

(APPLAUSE)

They're looking for answers.

(APPLAUSE)

The American people are looking for answers -- how to deal -- how to deal with the jobs that are being lost in this economy, their jobs, the lack of affordable health care that affects their kids, their husbands, wives, ladies and gentlemen, the retirement security they see literally vanishing before their very eyes, and maybe, equally as important, in my view, how and when to use our power abroad.

That -- that is what was most -- what was at the same time remarkable as well as reassuring is what you didn't hear from those folks. You didn't hear a single question about the ugly inferences and the unbecoming personal attacks launched by the McCain campaign on Barack Obama. You didn't hear one single average person ask that.

(APPLAUSE)

Barack Obama showed again last night that he understands, he understands that these debates aren't about Governor Palin and me, they aren't about Barack Obama and John McCain; these debates, this election, is about you, not us.

(APPLAUSE)

This election --

AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!

BIDEN: This election, in the words of folks that grew up in my neighborhood, is literally about dignity and respect, the respect American people deserve. It's simply -- if you're going to cut it all to the side, cut through everything, from our perspective it's about fairness. It's about how to reclaim -- it's about how to reclaim, and I mean this sincerely, I'm not looking for an applause line here, I mean this seriously because this is what it's about. It's about dignity, respect, fairness -- it's simply about how to reclaim the greatness of this country. And it's that basic.

Ladies and gentlemen, John McCain's campaign has reached a very difficult place. And I'm being serious here. It's a difficult place. If they wanted to be intellectually honest, they really only have three choices. One, and I mean this literally, one, they can deny that we're in trouble and say that things are pretty good, we just need a little fine-tuning. That's one intellectually honest position they could argue from their perspective. Two, they could explain why the policies of the late -- the last eight years, why they aren't a problem, why it's some other reason that's caused us to get in this God awful deep hole we've been dug into, both at home and abroad.

Or thirdly, they could be intellectually honest and acknowledge that the economic situation that we face today is the final verdict of a failed economic philosophy. And it needs a wholesale change, total change.

(APPLAUSE)

In my view, they're the only three intellectually honest options that could be chosen.

But there's one other option -- there's one other option, the one they have chosen, is to appeal to fear with a veiled question -- who is the real Barack Obama? Ladies and gentlemen, to have a vice presidential candidate raise the most outrageous inferences, the ones that John McCain's campaign is condoning, is simply wrong. They went out --

(APPLAUSE)

-- the McCain campaign went out and hired some of the very political manipulators in the Republican primary who in 2000 led those vicious attacks against John's daughters and John's lovely wife. They hired those people to come onboard. And now these same people, they're attacking Barack Obama in the ugliest of ways. Ladies and gentlemen, this is beyond disappointing. This is beyond disappointing. This is wrong.

Ladies and gentlemen --

(APPLAUSE)

-- some of you may remember that back in the beginning of September, John McCain's campaign manager said, and I quote, "this election is not about issues." On Monday, this past Monday, one of John McCain's top strategists told the "New York Daily News," and I quote, "if we keep talking about the economic crisis, we're going to lose" -- end of quote. Another strategist, another McCain strategist, told the "Washington Post," -- quote -- "we're looking forward to turning the page on this financial crisis." And ladies and gentlemen, he didn't mean in solving the crisis, he meant in ignoring it and attacking Barack Obama instead. That's what this campaign has been about.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, most Americans -- most Americans don't have the luxury of ignoring the economy, ignoring the cost of gas, ignoring the cost of groceries, the cost of tuition, health care and whether or not they can pay their mortgages. We don't think you can turn the page until we have a leader with ideas that will write a better ending to the story than the one we're being written now.

(APPLAUSE) When those guys start saying the things I just read to you, you know they're going to try to take the low road, take the low road to the highest office in the land. And that's exactly what they're doing. A recent analysis showed that 100 percent of the advertisement that John McCain is now running are advertisements attacking Barack Obama -- 100 percent. Well folks, I guess when you vote with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, your best hope is to attack your opponent 100 percent of the time. Folks, don't be distracted. Those attacks don't hurt Barack Obama or me. They hurt you. Every single false charge and baseless accusation is an attempt to get you to stop paying attention to what's going on in this country.

Beyond the attacks, what is John McCain really offering? What about the past -- what about the past eight years? Think of this question and ask your Republican friends, many voting of whom are voting for Barack already, but ask your friends who are still for John, ask them this question, literally -- what about the past eight years would John McCain change in the next four years?

AUDIENCE: Nothing.

BIDEN: You got it. Nothing -- nothing consequential. You can't change the next four years if you stood with George Bush in calling for Social Security to be privatized. You can't change the next four years if you stood with George Bush when he blocked efforts to provide health care for an additional 3.8 million children. You can't change the next four years if you'd simply continued George Bush's shoot- first and ask questions later foreign policy.

(APPLAUSE)

We will end this war. We will end this war.

(APPLAUSE)

Ladies and gentlemen, you can't change -- you can't change our approach to global warming if you think, as my opponent said, you're not quite sure of the cause. Ladies and gentlemen, you can't change the lives of the middle class when on issues that matter most to them, sending their kids to college, paying for health care, filling the gas tank, paying the mortgage -- there is no difference, none, between what would be done by John McCain and then what has already been done by George Bush. Look, to paraphrase a good friend of mine, Senator Bob Casey from my hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, he says --

(APPLAUSE)

-- he says, you can't call yourself a maverick when all you've ever been is a sidekick.

(APPLAUSE)

That's why, folks, that's why you're seeing John McCain's campaign become so erratic, relying on political stunts instead of offering real solutions. Look at how John McCain responded to the current economic crisis. At 9:00 a.m., this is literal, at 9:00 a.m. on September the 15th, when everything was crashing, John McCain said -- quote -- "the fundamentals of the economy are strong." At 11:00 a.m. the same day, he said that we're in a great economic crisis. Now, that's what we Catholics call an epiphany.

(LAUGHTER)

Ladies and gentlemen -- ladies and gentlemen, presidents have to instill confidence in order to be able to lead both at home and abroad. They must provide a steady leadership in times of challenge, not lurching from the one side to the other in a matter of hours. Ladies and gentlemen, that's not what great presidents do.

In those two hours did John McCain realize the average income of American families had already dropped $2,000 over the previous seven- and-a-half years? I don't think so. Did he realize that our economy has lost jobs for nine straight months, more than 750,000 jobs this year, and more than 115,000 lost jobs right here in Florida? I don't think so. Or that the premiums people pay for their health care has doubled over the last eight years? I don't think so. Did he realize that this economic crisis is the final verdict on a failed economic philosophy, of cutting regulations, of blindfolding the overseers to let Wall Street do whatever it wants? I don't think he got it. Ladies and gentlemen, did he realize that we can't afford four more years of the same? I don't think so.

The problem with John's epiphany is not that he saw the light, he saw the presidency slipping from his grasp. That's what he saw.

(APPLAUSE)

That's what he saw.

(APPLAUSE)

Ladies and gentlemen, this financial crisis, as has been pointed out to you already by Jim, has wiped out $2 trillion of people's retirement funds, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Florida -- Florida is the second in the nation in home foreclosures. Barack Obama has said it's not enough just to get out of this economic crisis. We need a wholesale, fundamental change in our economic philosophy because that's what got us here, his philosophy. Ladies and gentlemen, Barack and I understand the way to rebuild this economy is to strengthen the middle class. That's why in this housing crisis we're going to make it easier --

(APPLAUSE)

-- in this housing crisis we're going to make it easier -- easier for people to keep their homes by changing the bankruptcy laws and allowing judges, not only to reduce the amount of the payment, but the total amount of money owed on the mortgage. Ladies and gentlemen, that's why all of our plans, from infrastructure to energy, to education, to tax cuts, to health care, focused on one thing -- jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs.

(APPLAUSE) It's about jobs, creating jobs, keeping jobs in America, not sending them overseas, making people -- making sure people have the skills to have great jobs, allowing you to keep your health care -- allowing you to keep your health care through your job, through your employment.

Look, here is how we're going to do that. First, we're going to give hard-pressed families a tax break. Barack and I will give real, meaningful tax cuts to 95 percent of all Americans who draw a paycheck. That is irrefutable. That is a fact -- 95 percent of all the people who draw a paycheck.

(APPLAUSE)

And why? Beyond it being fair, tax cuts will give you a little extra money, help you fill up the tank, heat or cool your home. Ladies and gentlemen, look, John McCain is proposing hundreds of billions of dollars in new tax breaks for big corporations and the wealthiest. They're already going to get this year, the wealthiest among us, $135 billion additional tax cuts this year. John wants to add on top of that, literally. This is not -- these facts cannot be refuted. It's his program. He wants to add on top of that another $300 billion in tax cuts.

Folks, even if it was fair, where is he going to get the money? How are we going to do this?

Ladies and gentlemen, his tax plan, as Barack pointed out last night, would give the Fortune 500 CEOs, on average, a $700,000 tax cut a piece. But his tax plan, literally, not figuratively, leaves out 100 million -- 100 million middle class tax payers. Ladies and gentlemen, instead of giving more tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas as John McCain proposes, we're going to take those tax breaks that they are given now and we're going to create jobs here in United States by keeping the companies here.

(APPLAUSE)

Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to rebuild America. We're going to make an investment in the crumbling roads and schools and infrastructure. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to invest $60 billion over the next 10 years, which will create two -- excuse me -- two million new jobs, average income close to $50,000 a year. Ladies and gentlemen --

(APPLAUSE)

-- right here in Florida -- right here in Florida it's estimated that Florida would gain an additional 120,000 jobs right here in Florida.

(APPLAUSE)

Ladies and gentlemen, thirdly, we're going to get serious about energy that's made in America, energy made in America. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to end this addiction to oil, and we're going to kill three birds with one stone. It will strengthen our national security, protect our environment and get our economy moving again by creating new high-paying jobs, five million new high-paying jobs.

(APPLAUSE)

How are we going to do that?

How are we going to do that? We're going to make a solid investment. We're going to invest $15 billion -- $15 billion a year over the next 10 years. We're going to invest in renewable sources of energy like wind and solar, creating five million new jobs.

(APPLAUSE)

Ladies and gentlemen -- ladies and gentleman, fourth -- fourth, we're going to cut health care costs for families and businesses as well and provide affordable, accessible health insurance for every single American. John McCain has an unusual proposal --

HARRIS: All right. There you have it, Joe Biden -- Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden at a rally talking about the economy, talking about the debate last night between Barack Obama and John McCain. Barack Obama -- Joe Biden said he wasn't an angry man, lurching from one position to the other. I think that pretty much tells you what Joe Biden thinks of John McCain's performance in last night's debate.

We will discuss the debate next hour here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

But just ahead, more members of the CNN money team take on the global market crunch. We'll hear how to keep your money safe.

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HARRIS: OK. Let's take you to the New York Stock Exchange right now. This all in front of the plasma screen, maybe to the big board there in New York City.

The Dow, as you can see, down 159 points. And, boy, after a fast start to the day, triple digits in positive territory, boy we've been all over the place. And now, as you can see, we are down 162 points -- 14,164. Remember that? A year ago tomorrow the Dow closed at its record high. Twelve months and almost 5,000 points later, here we are.

Today, the Fed took another step to restore confidence in the markets, and unfreeze credit. Want to bring in Ali Velshi and the CNN money team from CNNMoney.com to talk about a host of issues.

Ali, I'm going to turn this over to you and the team in just a moment here. But can we please revisit a little markets 101 for just a moment?

ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Sure.

HARRIS: When we watched the numbers, the Dow numbers go up and down, what are we watching really? And why should I care about these wild fluctuations in the market?

VELSHI: Yes, that's a perfect place to start because folks are worried about it, and that's the scoreboard that we've often got to point to because it's the one that works. I'm going to answer that right now with Christine Romans, Paul La Monica and Jeanne Sahadi. They are all part of our CNN money team and they're working hard on breaking every part of this down.

But Christine, let's start with that. You and I have lamented this some days, we both worked at the stock exchange for a long time, and we look at this and it is a gauge, but it's maybe not the right gauge and maybe it's putting too much panic into the system.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, half the people in this country are invested some way or another in the stock market, right? But what we've been talking about is the credit market. And the credit market has seized up, it is frozen. And that's the thing that's sending these shock waves around the globe. So we're seeing stocks here reacting very, very erratically to an awful lot of news, news that -- any one of these pieces of news would be hard to digest, right?

A big bank bailout in Britain, huge stock market losses overseas, then the Fed with this coordinated rate cut. What's that supposed to do? How is that going to help? How does that fit in the overall arsenal of what the Fed has been doing?

So you can watch the stock market. And remember, there's the stock market, there's the economy, your economy, that's your job and your money, and then there's the credit market. All three of these things are a little bit different.

VELSHI: All right. The credit market affects your houses. We just heard Joe Biden, Jeanne, talking about jobs, jobs, jobs, that's the most important thing. Fundamentally, people maybe should pay less attention to the stock market right now and more attention to exactly the decisions that they're going to have to make on election night about who's going to take them through this tough economy.

Did we get good answers on that last night in the debate?

JEANNE SAHADI, SR. WRITER, CNNMONEY.COM: We got partial answers. We're going to need more answers next week.

What the candidates did last night, I think, was -- they were asked a lot of questions about how are we going to get out of this crisis? Is it going to get worse before it gets better? And they somehow managed to wrap their answers right back to their health and energy plans, which are important, but they are not the point of this crisis. And truthfully, the next year for the next president is going to be all about the crisis.

We want to hear about their crisis team. Who's going to be on it? How are they going to handle things differently?

They talk about -- we're going to regulate Wall Street more. Well we --

VELSHI: Right, but what does that mean to the crisis?

And Paul, that is a really good point in that we thought that maybe the next president will inherit a recession. This is a crisis on top of a recession.

What happens next? Every single day it seems -- we had one analyst who said cutting rates now is like throwing a pistol at the problem after you've emptied the chamber. What happens next?

PAUL LA MONICA, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes, I think it's really difficult to say. We have a fundamental lack of confidence, and trust, in our banking system right now, in the financial markets overall. And that is a very difficult thing for any administration to deal with.

I think that the Federal Reserve is doing everything it can think of, and even creating things on the fly, to try and deal with this crisis. But one thing that has to be stressed is that patience, as unfortunate as that sounds, you have to have patience. People expect things to change overnight, and none of these moves will get the economy back on track in a nanosecond.

ROMANS: The big Treasury program hasn't started yet where --

VELSHI: That's the bailout you're talking about.

ROMANS: That's the bailout -- the $700 billion. And now people have been saying, wait, we spent $700 billion, nothing has happened. It hasn't started yet.

And then this other thing, the commercial paper, that hasn't started yet either.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: That decision was to (INAUDIBLE) loan money to companies.

ROMANS: Right. Maybe in a few days. Eventually, they're telling me, analysts are telling me, they're going to start getting that credit market to thaw. It just hasn't happened yet.

VELSHI: All right. We're going to wrap this up and get back to Tony.

But Tony, the message here is, just hold on, don't get too panicked about this. We talk about a $2 trillion loss in people's 401(k)s, but for some people it's not a loss if you haven't locked it in.

I want to give you two pieces of news, Tony, that have come out this morning. One is that pending home sales, that is homes that were under contract to be sold, we get that number a couple months late, so we've got it for August -- believe it or not, they were up 7 percent compared to June. Strongly in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Rhode Island and D.C. California and Nevada, Arizona and Florida are states that were hit so hard. So bottom line is prices are going down enough for people to consider buying.

The other piece of information I want to give you, the retail sales, America's stores have reported their sales for September. There are some massive, massive drops. JC Penney sales for September, were down 12 percent, you see it down there. The only gainers were Wal-Mart and Costco of the big ones.

So mixed signs. Don't panic too much about the market. Pay attention to other things right now -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes, that is terrific.

Ali, thanks to you and thanks to that fabulous money team. You guys are terrific.

We're just getting word from the White House, and the briefing just a few moments ago, that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is scheduled to hold a 3:00 p.m. news conference today from the Treasury Department. And of course we will bring that you live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

"Fortune" magazine is out with its list of the 50 most powerful women in business. One of the newcomers on the list is a woman known as someone who moves the markets. Before we tell you who she is, Fredricka Whitfield gives you a chance to guess.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEREDITH WHITNEY, OPPENHEIMER & CO.: When I was growing up I always thought I'd be a veterinarian.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She had a change of plan, but it didn't stop this businesswoman from playing with the big dogs. Taking the financial industry by storm, this analyst is calling it like it is. And investors are all ears.

Who is this Wall Street powerhouse? Find out after the break.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: New to "Fortune" magazine's list of the most powerful women, Meredith Whitney of Oppenheimer & Company comes in at number 35.

Known as the woman who moves markets, Whitney first got attention when she predicted Citigroup's troubles back in 2007. A bold move she made alone.

WHITNEY: I've made some gutsy calls throughout my career. This one was a big one. I was very confident in what I put out. I was surprised that I was the only one making it.

WHITFIELD: But far from being concerned. For Whitney, it's just about keeping it real.

(END VIDEO CLIP)